"That Ain't Your Name": An Engaged Identity and Other Gifts from a Dysfunctional Southern Family

It was not until 1946 when my grandmother received a copy of the revised birth certificate in the mail from my father and blurted out to me 'That ain't your name,' that I really became aware of the problems. She quickly added, 'Your mother, she never got it right neither.'" This article appears in the Winter 2012 issue of Southern Cultures . The full issue is also available as an ebook. Southern Cultures is published quarterly (spring, summer, fall, winter) by the University of North Carolina Pr